Routes, Planning, & Inspiration for Your North American Road Trip

The New York Subway System turns 100 in October,
2004. (For more information and a timeline, click
here.) For a hundred years, this venerable underground network
has not only transported legions of New Yorkers and tourists,
it has also become an icon in American film, literature, and
culture. Currently, the New York subway system operates 22 major
lines, 3 shuttle routes, 6,350 passenger cars, 440 maintenance
cars, and 468 stations with 31,180 turnstiles. More than 26,000
people are employed, and subway trains carry more than 1.4 billion
riders each year.

While it may seem like an immutable
fixture, the subway system has actually undergone many changes
over the decades. Trains from different eras have long been
on display in the New York Transit
Museum, a fascinating destination that occupies a former
subway station in Brooklyn.

Now, however, you don't have
to travel to the Big Apple to get hands-on experience with
the New York subway system. In honor of the subway's first
century, the Transit Museum has published New York City
Subway Trains. This brand new book not only provides the
history and specifications of a dozen different cars, it also
lets you build three-dimensional replicas of classics like
the IRT car that carried visitors to the World's Fair in Flushing
Meadows back in 1939. The artwork in New York City Subway
Trains is first rate, and the book is printed on heavy
laminated matte paper. The replicas are easily punched out,
and the directions for building them are clear. Glue and scissors
aren't requiredthe book is all you need to be taken
on a trip through time aboard New York's classic people movers.